AUSTIN — Scores for most students in the final year of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills were in higher ranges, although one in 12 high school seniors won’t get a diploma because they failed one or more graduation tests.

The Texas Education Agency reported Thursday that 22,578 seniors across the state won’t be joining their counterparts at graduation ceremonies, but the percentage from this year’s class is an improvement over a year ago, when about 10 percent didn’t meet the standard.

Students who failed were tripped up primarily by the math and science sections of the TAKS. Overall passing rates were up for all ethnic groups compared with last year.

But about three times as many black and Hispanic students as white students were unable to pass all four sections of the exam, measuring skills in English, math, science and social studies.

Other TAKS results showed that most Texas students in grades five and eight — the other high-stakes testing grades — are being promoted after passing the TAKS this spring. But at least 14 percent of fifth-graders and 20 percent of eighth-graders were in danger of being held back unless they passed the exam on the second try in May.

The TAKS, which debuted in 2003 in Texas schools, is scheduled to be replaced next school year by a new testing program, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.

In high schools, ninth-graders will take the new STAAR end-of-course exams in core subjects — three tests each in math, reading, science and social studies.

Students will have to get an average passing grade on the three tests in each subject area to earn a diploma. Older high school students — grades 10 and above — will continue taking the TAKS until they graduate.

Most educators believe the new requirements will be more difficult than what students now face — particularly since the end-of-course exams are supposed to measure skills that prepare a student for college.

Fifth- and eighth-graders fall under a state law aimed at curtailing the practice of social promotion — automatically passing students regardless of achievement.

Students in those grades who fail the exam twice get one more chance to pass during the summer. If they fail again, they must repeat their grade unless the student’s parents, teacher and principal all agree that the student should be advanced.